Our Winter in Tucson

Okay we did arrive in Tucson! So what have we been doing? Well various things, but mostly hanging around with friends, eating out and for me hiking!

My main activity this year was hiking. I took over the Wednesday hiking club duties. We are called the Desert Explorers of Rincon Country West. This included scheduling the hikes, gathering information for the hikers, getting leaders and keeping the web site up t0 date! We have 2 hiking groups within the main group. One is a for those that want less mileage and a little easier trail and the other group is more of a moderate hike, sometimes longer and more challenging.

I also created a Monday hiking group, to explore new trails in the area, that may or may not be suitable for our hikers. So far this year I have hiked 374.67 miles, this includes both Wednesday and Monday hikes and my morning hikes! Our trip this year was to Silver City, New Mexico!

Loretta has kept busy with, Bible Study, and Genealogy. Her genealogy quest has at times kept her up until the wee hours of the morning! I would pass her in the hallway going to bed as Brody and I got up for his walk (4:00am)! She has done much better on her quest than I have!

We did not do a lot of tourist stuff this year, I guess we were content with just hanging around. The weather was a little cool this year and we only got 2 motorcycle rides in. One to Eloy to watch parachuters and the other to Sonoita,Arizona and back.

Now it is time to leave Arizona and head back to Illinois.

We have 2 grandchildren graduating from high school, one from grade school, one 3 year old birthday party,an Eagle Scout award ceremony, a confirmation service and who knows what else! A time just to enjoy family.

Our route back will takes us about 25 days. We will be taking our time visiting friends and family along the way

We were supposed to go to New Mexico to work at a National Monument, however because of some miscommunication, that opportunity was rescinded. This was a blessing really! Our first choice was in Idaho, but they had not responded, so we emailed and told them we had committed to another area. After receiving the news about New Mexico, I emailed the Idaho position to let them know we were available. Lo and behold they were still in need of our services! the Lord certainly works in strange ways! We are excited, however some changes to our schedule ( Total Solar Eclipse) will have to be made, but I am confident that it can be worked out.